1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a presence management system for use in a multiple access communications network, and in particular, but not limited to, a presence management system for use by aggregates of users.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Telecommunication users of today are faced with ever increasing choice over how they communicate. A typical user has several different kinds of communications terminal such as mobile telephones, fax machines, personal computers, lap-top computers. Also a typical user also often has more that one of a given type of communications terminal, for example, more than on E-mail account, or home and work telephone numbers. This produces complexity and confusion both for senders and receivers of communications.
Receivers of communications have to work hard to field all incoming communications and such users often find that interruptions from alerts, such as telephone calls and instant messages, are intrusive.
Typically, receivers of communications have little control over what communications are received, at which times, and in which modes. In face to face communications, humans are able to control the degree of interaction which they allow with particular people or groups. However, with today's communication networks the degree and resolution of the control of electronically mediated communications is much less. For example, telephone numbers are often fully public (in a directory) and are typically issued on demand to others who explicitly ask and know the full address. Also, a telephone number, once released to others, has continuing validity unless the telephone number is changed at great inconvenience and expense. Similar problems apply for email addresses. This means that it is easy for others, such as salesmen or nuisance callers to contact you more times than desired. In order to prevent this problem, telephone numbers and email addresses may be withheld but this gives the disadvantage of isolating the “owner” of the telephone number or email address.
Senders of communications also experience problems because they are often unsure about which mode of communication to use at a given time for a particular destination. In order to determine the most appropriate method of access there are many factors to be considered. These include factors to do with the sender such as what they are trying to communicate and factors to do with the receiver such as where the intended recipient is and what they are doing at the time.
Two examples of instant messaging services are now described:
Microsoft Network (MSN) Messenger Service
MSN messenger service is an instant messaging service for use on the Internet. Users are able to identify when others are online and to send and receive instant messages. By identifying when others are online it is possible to send an instant message to other online individuals or to communicate with several other online individuals at once. In this way the communication and messages are more “real time” than conventional email for example, where an email message may simply remain in an individual's email inbox for some time before it is accessed. The service enables a user to identify when another party in an internet conversation is typing at their computer terminal keyboard. That is, using the instant message service it is possible to “talk” to more than one person at a time in a similar way to an online chat session. The user is also able to control which other parties are able to identify or “see” when the user is online and also to control who is able to send messages to the user. In this respect the MSN service differs from conventional online chat programs. Automatic notification of receipt of messages is provided. However, instant messages in MSN messenger service have a temporary quality. Unless the user deliberately saves these messages they are lost when the message service is shut down. This contrasts with conventional email messages in most email systems which remain until a user actively deletes them. Information about MSN messenger service is provided on the Internet at http://messenger.msn.com.
ICQ (“I Seek You”)
ICQ is an instant messaging service for internet users. It is a program that enables users to identify others who are online and which alerts users when specified individuals log onto the ICQ service. This removes the need for a directory search to be made each time a user wants to communicate with a specific person.
Using ICQ, messages, files and web pages can be sent to other online users of ICQ in real time and ICQ also supports chat, voice, message board, data conferencing and internet games. When a new user installs ICQ the user is prompted to register at a server which is connected to a broad network of other servers spanning the internet. In the registration process the user receives a unique ICQ identifier number and is able to enter personal information. When the registered user logs onto the Internet the ICQ system detects this and allows other ICQ users to recognise that that user has logged on. The registered user is able to compile a list of friends and associates (these friends and associates must also be registered with ICQ or a compatible instant messaging service) and the ICQ system determines when these individuals are logged onto the internet. Alerting messages are sent to the user to inform him or her when members of the list of friends and associates sign on or off the ICQ system. Users are also able to control who contacts them and to hide their presence on the internet when this is required. Information about ICQ is given on the Internet at http://www.icq.com.
Some instant messaging services include so called “buddy lists” which are lists of other users of that instant messaging service which have been selected by an individual user as being those of interest. The individual user is then informed whether or not the members of the “buddy list” are currently using and available for contact via the instant messaging service. Such buddy lists are essentially attributes of the owning user and do not have any autonomous status in the instant messaging system, thus playing only a passive role therein.
Other instant messaging systems such as America On-line's Instant Messenger (trade mark) offer broadly similar capabilities to ICQ.
Known instant messaging systems such as MSN and ICQ do not deal with multiple access communications networks and are based on the internet only. This is disadvantageous because the functions of the instant messaging systems are only available via the internet.
Unified messaging systems are known, such as Nortel Network's own product CALL PILOT (trade mark). This enables fax, email and voice mail messages to be received via a single “in box” and users are able to set up filters to allow only certain messages to reach them. For example, users are able to listen to textual email messages converted automatically into speech using their mobile telephone and are able to filter out non-urgent messages. However, this is not a presence management system and does not monitor the activity of users on a communications network.
Products are available which act as communications network based “secretaries” to take a user's calls. For example, WILDFIRE (trade mark) produced by Wildfire communications, Inc and PORTICO (trade mark) produced by General Magic, Inc. The WILDFIRE product uses speech recognition to help users manager their phone, fax and email communications. This product dials outgoing calls, announces callers using a voice recording that is played back, records contact details and is able to route incoming calls to any telephone specified by a user. However, this system is not a presence management system because it does not obtain and manage information about the activities of users and monitor their “presence” on the communications network. Also, it is not an instant messaging system and does not enable users who are trying to contact another user to obtain information about the best mode and time to do this. Details about the WILDFIRE product are available on the Internet at www.wildfire.com. Details about PORTICO are available on the Internet at www.qeneralmagic.com. PORTICO is similar to WILDFIRE and is limited in the same respects as PORTICO.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a presence management system which overcomes or at least mitigates one or more of the problems noted above.